Description

The assumptions that military service helps candidates attract votes—while lacking it harms a candidate’s chances—has been an article of faith since the electoral coronation of George Washington in 1789. Perhaps the most compelling fact driving the perception that military service helps win votes is the large number of veterans who have held public office. Some candidates even exaggerate their military service to persuade voters. However, sufficient counter-examples undermine the idea that military veterans enjoy an advantage when seeking political office.

In Why Veterans Run, Jeremy Teigen explains the tendency of parties to elevate those with armed forces experience to run for high office. He describes the veteran candidate phenomenon by examining the related factors and patterns, showing why different eras have more former generals running and why the number of veterans in election cycles varies. With both quantitative and qualitative analysis, Why Veterans Run investigates each postwar era in U.S. electoral history and elaborates why so many veterans run for office. Teigen also reveals how election outcomes with veteran candidates illuminate the relationship between the military and civilian spheres as well as the preferences of the American electorate.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

1. Veterans Running for President
2. Explaining Why Veterans Run
3. Early Republic: George Washington through James Monroe
4. Antebellum Generals: Andrew Jackson through the Civil War
5. Civil War Generals and the Bloody Shirt: George McClellan through William McKinley
6. Early Twentieth Century: Theodore Roosevelt through Adlai Stevenson
7. The "Greatest Generation": Dwight Eisenhower through Bob Dole
8. Mixed Legacy of Vietnam: Bill Clinton through Donald Trump
Conclusion: Contemplating a Future with Fewer Veterans in Politics

Appendix
References
Index

About the Author(s)

Jeremy M. Teigen is Professor of Political Science at Ramapo College in New Jersey.